Monday, April 4, 2022

Chapter 2 - The First Rejection of the King (Part 3 of 6)

Israel’s Continued Roller-Coaster Ride of Righteousness

Last week, we looked at the how God saved the nation Israel from the bondage and oppression of the Egyptians in the book of Exodus, and how that episode was a “type” of how Jesus saves people in New Testament times from the bondage and oppression of sin.

However, after the Passover and the Red Sea incidents, it didn’t take long for the nation Israel to bellyache about their new situation, wandering in the desert on the way to a “supposed” Promised Land. And unfortunately, it didn’t stop there.

The whining and complaining about being “set apart,” “different,” and God’s “holy” people ebbed and flowed through the Old Testament from the Exodus event forward, all the way through the books of Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, and the Judges. Sometimes, it was so severe, God punished His people and vowed to wipe them out and start over, using Moses as the new Abraham (see Exodus 32 and Numbers 14). However, Moses didn’t wish to have the responsibility of Abraham and prayed for the wayward nation. God relented as a result, which speaks to the heart of Moses and how much sin angers God.

Other times, even though Moses prayed on their behalf, God was not happy with Israel’s sin and wiped out all who chose to stand up and oppose Him and His chosen leaders. In Numbers 16, for example, over fifteen thousand people lost their lives because of sin in that one instance. Some got swallowed up by the hole in the ground God created. The majority died of a plague. Afterward, in Numbers 26, Deuteronomy 11, and Psalm 106, God kept reminding the survivors of this catastrophe by recounting the folly of four people: Korah, Dathan, Abiram, and On, in an attempt to wake Israel up to the notion that they were to set themselves apart as His sacred people, be consecrated unto Him alone, live differently, be holy as God is holy.

In all this history, the overarching issue Israel always had with God, leading up to the first book of Samuel, revolved around His laws, i.e., His instructions and teachings (torah) on how to be holy (qadosh), how to be different, and how to be sacred and consecrated. To the Israelites, living the way God wanted them to live was intrusive, exhausting, and even embarrassing at times.

Yet, God loved His people. He gave them Moses. He gave them Joshua. Then He gave them judges. All of whom were men and women He chose to serve as His mouthpieces, to instruct the nation on how to obey His instructions and teachings for the grand purpose of being the instruments through which He could bring salvation to a world fraught with sin.

God also sent prophets, like Samuel, who became God’s bullhorns, urging the Israelites to repent, to be holy, set apart, and get back to their torah roots.

Regrettably, we know how some of those prophets’ stories ended (cf. Matthew 23:37).

For you see, every individual—and that includes us—is directed by one of two people: God or himself/herself. It is really as simple as that. A person is either living for God, wholeheartedly, following His instructions and teachings, or that person is rejecting God’s torah and living by his or her own desires and wishes. For those who totally reject the ways of God, the Bible calls them “lovers of themselves” (2 Timothy 3:2ff). And when an individual is following his or her “own instructions and teachings,” then the Bible says they are actually following another god as they live their lives in “the ways of the world and of the prince of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient” (Ephesians 2:1-2). In this passage in Ephesians, the Apostle Paul is referring to Satan, the one who influences mankind to steer away from God, question God, question His instructions and teachings, and never accept them fully.

Loving the God of the Bible

There is one more important point to make before we move forward, looking specifically at First Samuel, chapter eight. To obey God’s instructions and teachings properly, we must love the God of the Bible.

We cannot just love the Bible and believe it alone will save us. This was the ultimate sin of the Pharisees and Sadducees. This kind of misaligned love and devotion causes us to reinterpret the Bible, based on what we believe we can obey and not obey. We want to obey it, so we stress the parts we can obey and finagle the parts we cannot obey into things we can. Then, we pat ourselves on the back for being such “good little followers,” just like the scribes and the Pharisees. We end up rethinking scripture, reimagining scripture, rewriting scripture, and even adding to it or subtracting from it. Thus, we ultimately make it say things it never intended to say.

Some church leaders and publishers feel the need to “modernize” the Bible for today’s culture. This practice forces them to take out the parts that make certain people feel uncomfortable or even offended (as if God was concerned about such things when He gave His Word to the original authors). As a result, meaning gets lost as it is made to bow to a post-modernistic ideology. These subtle changes cause pastors and ministers to alter what they preach because they do not wish to offend and alienate people supposedly “seeking” God. Therefore, they preach the parts with which they agree or feel strongly about, while they change or completely ignore other parts. All the while, their actions are discrediting Hebrews 13:8, because apparently, Jesus isn’t the same anymore. The “Jesus” He was yesterday, when He physically walked the highways and byways of Israel, is somehow different from the “Jesus” He is today, according to them. Therefore, under this post-modern philosophy, we must assume Jesus will change His teachings for future generations too.

I hope you see how utterly and biblically insane this is. Not to mention blasphemous.

“But,” you say, “those are the people who do not love God, for nobody who loves God would do such a thing.”

My response to this kind of comment would be this: It is true. The Bible is clear about altering God’s Word. In Revelation 22:18-20, John is very specific. And even though he is referring to the Book of Revelation, we can also deduce that if the Book of Revelation was written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, as 2 Timothy 3:16 says, then all of Scripture is off limits when it comes to rewriting it.

However, it must also be understood that the people who follow this post-modernistic worldview often believe they do love God and are serving Him, which indicates that Satan has done a masterful job deceiving them with his half-truths and misleading promises.

But it doesn’t stop there.

There are many pastors and preachers, famous ones, even, who distort God’s Word because they love the Word of God more than the God of the Word. We see it all the time, unfortunately. Today and throughout history. Men and women preaching, saying, and doing unthinkable things to the Words of God—often in the name of God, because they like what God’s Word says so much, they love its words and what they offer (usually a pathway to fame and fortune) more than the Author of those words. Here are some examples:

·       An Example of Adding to God’s Word: People saying they have a “prophetic word” or a “word of knowledge” from God, yet the “word” doesn’t agree with the rest of the Bible or come true (Deuteronomy 18:20-22; Ezekiel 13:9; Jeremiah 23:16; Matthew 7:16-20; Matthew 24:24; Acts 20:28-30; 2 Corinthians 11:13-15; 2 Timothy 4:3-4; Titus 1:6-16; 2 Peter 1:21; 2 Peter 2; 2 Peter 3:17; 1 John 4:1-6). They also say at times that they have received a “new revelation,” as if God’s Word is somehow incomplete and needs additional information, clarification, or finishing touches. These “wolves in sheep’s clothing” (Matthew 7:15) proclaim that the New Testament teachings of Jesus were a “new revelation” from God long after the Old Testament was given to the Israelites. Therefore, for God to reveal new truths today to his “super apostles” (2 Corinthians 11:5) is just another step in the process.1 Unfortunately, they are deceived, because even Jesus Himself said He did not come to abolish the law (i.e., consider it void and thus in need of revision or replacement), but He came to fulfill it, meaning He was going to show us how it was supposed to be lived from the beginning (Matthew 5:17-20). In these cases, these false teachers love the “power” of the Word of God more than the God of the Word and attempt to use it for their own glory and power and honor, often resulting in disgrace and scandal, leading people astray in the process. 

·       Examples of Censoring God’s Word or Simply Omitting Sections of It: Another idea preached by wolves in sheep’s clothing is that “God is a God of love; He would never sentence a person to Hell under the New Covenant,”2 thus they never preach on the topic of sin and hell, even though Jesus preached on it more than He did the topic of heaven.3

·       An Example of Using the Bible to Teach Something It Doesn’t: The Bible sometimes is taken and placed alongside human documents to help promote certain ideals, like the “God Bless the USA” Bible, for example.4 This sounds good on its face (for who doesn’t want God to bless their nation), but it twists the Bible into saying things it doesn’t say, because the human documents are placed on par with God’s Word.

You cannot have a loving, moral, righteous God without there being a line in the sand, differentiating the difference between good and evil, right and wrong, righteous living and sinful living (cf. Romans 3:20). God’s Word drew that line in the sand centuries ago with the Torah, and then He reestablished it as a fulfillment in the person of Jesus, the Messiah (Matthew 5:17-18).

It’s either God or us. We follow one or the other. We obey one or the other. We reap blessings or judgment based on which one we choose to believe and follow.

The Israelites knew this too. Even after the Exodus. Even after wandering in the desert. Even after entering the Promised Land. Joshua still urged them, in Joshua 24:14-15 (KJV), to follow God and throw away their false idols: 

“Now, therefore, fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD. And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve, whether the gods your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD (emphasis added). 

The Israelites answered Joshua in verse 16, “God forbid that we should forsake the LORD, to serve other gods!” Then, they recounted all that God had done for them. He brought them out of Egypt, out of slavery, and “did those great signs in our sight” (v. 17). He drove out the nations before them, including the Amorites (v. 18). As a result, they vowed again, “We will also serve the LORD; for he is our God.”

Joshua then had some sobering words for the people of Israel, reminding them of God’s standards: 

“Ye cannot serve the LORD: for he is a holy God; he is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins. If ye forsake the LORD and serve strange gods, then he will turn and do you hurt, and consume you, after that he hath done you good” (vv. 19-20). 

In other words, Joshua doesn’t believe them. They have a history. A precedent has been set. And he knows God and how God feels about sin. But, in verse 21, the people of Israel assure Joshua that they mean business this time. They will be obedient and serve God.

So, in verse 22-23, Joshua says that they have now become witnesses against themselves by saying in the presence of Joshua and God that they had chosen to serve God. In verse 23, Joshua orders them to throw away their foreign gods and “yield your hearts to the LORD, the God of Israel.”

The people of Israel agreed, and Joshua made a covenant with Israel, which is a binding agreement, and set up a stone, saying it would be “a witness unto us; for it hath heard all the words of the LORD which he spoke unto us: it shall be, therefore, a witness unto you, lest ye deny your God” (verse 27, emphasis added).

How can a stone be a witness?

Joshua, whose name means “The Lord saves,” set up a stone as a witness against Israel. In other words, the Israelites could no longer claim they didn’t promise to obey God wholeheartedly. Otherwise, the “stone” would bear witness before God, and God would have to act accordingly.

Interestingly, Jesus (which is the Greek equivalent of Joshua) is referred to as a what? A living Stone (1 Peter 2:4). One that is not only the cornerstone upon which the church is built (the foundation stone; Psalm 118:22; Matthew 21:42; Luke 20:17; Acts 4:11; Ephesians 2:20), He is also the capstone, the finishing stone, the one that completes the structure and holds the building together (Greek scholars state that the word for “capstone” can be used to describe both the foundation stone and the capstone; both are critical in the strength of a structure, hence the ambiguity of the word’s ultimate meaning, i.e., you cannot limit the word to mean one or the other because it means both). Therefore, He is at the beginning of the building process and the ending of the building process. He is the Alpha and the Omega (Revelation 21:6). And this “Living Stone” was not only present at the moment Joshua performed this task in Joshua 24, He was present for the beginning of the building process of Israel (Genesis 12:1ff; 18:1ff), and He will be present when the end of the building process is complete (Revelation 21). He was even present at the beginning of the building process of the Creation (John 1:1-3)!

In addition, Jesus did witness against Israel time and time again during His earthly ministry. He became the “stumbling block” that causes men to fall (1 Peter 2:8; cf. Isaiah 8:14). Not because He is mischievous or devious, but because the men referenced in 1 Peter cannot bring themselves to recognize Jesus as the Messiah, Emmanuel, God in the flesh. The Living Stone was then and is now separating the wheat from the chaff (Matthew 3:12), the sheep from the goats (Matthew 25:33), and the righteous from the wicked (Matthew 13:49), acting as a witness against the Israelites, especially the Pharisees, Sadducees, chief priests, and teachers of the law, as well as all who say they will follow God and then disobey repeatedly.

Therefore, it boils down to a choice? For you and your house, who do you serve (i.e., worship)? 


Thought For The Week:

We have to be so careful today. Satan has done a masterful job convoluting God’s Word. He has attacked it every which way he can, and as the world becomes more and more “post-modern,” those attacks grow exponentially because certain things that used to be “taboo” because of what was generally believed in society to be “true” and “just” simply are not anymore. It seems everything is “on the table” for negotiations these days, including God’s Word.

Be on the lookout for false teachings. They’re much more subtle today than ever before, being hid under the guise of “love” and “forgiveness,” which sounds very biblical. However, we must understand what “love” and ‘forgiveness” and ‘redemption” mean by understanding how God views them, defines them, and expects us to exemplify them, preach them, and teach them. The Word must dictate to culture, not the other way around. That only happens when you understand how God views things through His eyes and live by His Word accordingly. Otherwise, the world is doomed because it will have exchanged the truth for a lie (Romans 1:18-32).


NEXT WEEK:

We’re establishing the historical precedent of the nation Israel which lead to the monumental moment in 1 Samuel 8. Without this understanding, grasping the truth contained in 1 Samuel, as well as what comes after, might very well be missed.


Endnotes

 

1. Hagin, Kenneth E. The Glory of God (Tulsa, Okla.: Faith Library, 1987) 14-15. Hagin writes:

“The Bible truly has become a fellow witness to God’s present activity. . . If someone today perhaps has a vision of God, of Christ, it is good to know that it has happened before; if one has a revelation from God, to know that for the early Christians revelation also occurred in the community; if one speaks a ‘Thus says the Lord,’ and dares to address the fellowship in the first person—even going beyond the words of Scripture—that this was happening long ago. How strange and remarkable it is! If one speaks in the fellowship of the Spirit the Word of truth, it is neither his own thoughts and reflections (e.g., on some topic of the day) nor simply some exposition of Scripture, for the Spirit transcends personal observations, however interesting or profound they may be. The Spirit as the living God moves through and beyond the records of past witness, however valuable such records are as a model for what happens today.”

What Hagin says is a common belief amongst many within the Charismatic and Pentecostal movements, but is not just limited to them alone. To believe that the Bible is only a “fellow witness,” and thus has, by logical progression, “other witnesses” that need to be written down today is definitely blasphemy. To believe that “revelations” given to men like Hagin are just as inspired as Paul said the Word of God was (2 Timothy 3:16), is blasphemy. Paul said “All Scripture is God-breathed.” It is useful for teaching, rebuking and training in righteousness so that the man of God may be completely equipped for every good work God places in His path. How can the man of God be “completely equipped” if God’s Word is somehow incomplete? How could Jesus, and the disciples after Him teach, rebuke, correct and train believers how to live godly lives, if further teachings and instructions were needed? To go one step farther, how do the preachers who espouse such doctrine know they are teaching gospel truth since God’s Word—according to their own theology—is still not complete? Surely, if Jesus’s teachings were not the final word, and His disciples writings—to whom He gave the keys to the kingdom—were not the final word, then preachers who believe in this doctrine are not the final, end-all word from God, either, which raises the question: When will God’s Word finally be finished? Does that not happen until Jesus’s second coming? Will any words be preached after the rapture? Will more words be preached in the millennial kingdom? Even after the events in the Book of Revelation occur?

Dear reader, do you see the danger in this doctrine? Preachers of today were not given the keys to the kingdom like Peter and the other apostles were. Jude urges his followers to contend for the faith—the New Covenant, “that was once for all entrusted to the saints” (verse 3). If something is “once and for all,” then it needs not be redone or have anything added to it. It is complete. This was the sentiment of John at the end of the book of Revelation as well (Rev. 22:18-19). It seems, according to God’s own words at the end of the Book of Revelation, adding or subtracting anything from God’s Word doesn’t end well for that person, for if this commandment applies to Revelation, and it is part of God’s Holy Word, then it is safe to conclude the same for the rest of His Living Word, wouldn’t you say?

And just so we are clear, the same was said of Jesus’s death on the cross, that it was the “once and for all sacrifice for sin” (Romans 6:10; Hebrews 7:27; 9:11-14; 10:10). If “once and for all” doesn’t mean “once and for all of time,” then Jesus’s death was for nothing, because according to this erroneous theology, His death on the cross would also need something added to it or something subtracted from it. That’s blasphemy of the highest order!

 

2.  Tenney, Merrill C., General Editor. “Marcion, Gospel of.” The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible: Volume 4, M-P. (Regency Reference Library; Grand Rapids, MI, p. 72). Marcion lived in the second century A.D. He believed the God of the OT was an evil tyrant and only cared about judgment. The God of the NT, on the other hand, was one of love. Hmmm… Where have we heard that before? Marcion also believed the Jews were evil, thus bringing anti-Semitism into the early church. This belief was a natural outflow of his theology, which eliminated all Jewish remnants from his Bible. He chose the gospel account of Luke as his primary gospel account because it was written predominantly toward a Gentile audience (as opposed to Matthew, which was written predominantly to Jewish audience), thus making his “bible” even more anti-Semitic. Marcion was branded a heretic in 144 A.D. and was in large part the reason why the early church canonized the sixty-six books of the Bible we have now. His “bible” removed the OT completely, all supernatural occurrences in the NT, like Jesus’s baptism, His confrontation with Satan in the desert, His transfiguration, etc. Only eleven of the NT books made the cut, ten of those being Paul’s epistles (Marcion was a big fan of Paul and believed he was the only disciple who truly understood the God of love).

 

3.  Kintz, Carrie. “Joel Osteen Just Explained Why He Never Preaches on Hell.” ChurchLeaders.com. 6 April 2016. Web. 23 June 2020. <https://churchleaders.com/daily-buzz/276763-joel-osteen-wont-preach-about-hell-but-he-should.html>; To be fair, there are many who believed this way and were forerunners of Osteen, such as Norman Vincent Peale and Robert Schuller, just to name a few bigger names people may recognize.

 

4. “God Bless the USA” Bible. GodBlesstheUSABible.com. No date. 30 May 2021. https://godblesstheusabible.com/. This “Bible” not only contains the handwritten chorus of the song by the same name, but it also contains the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, and the Pledge of Allegiance. As you can see, this is not scriptural. To place these human documents alongside Scripture is dangerous, if not blasphemous. There is only one nation listed in the Bible that God chose: Israel. All other nations throughout history have been used by God or ignored by Him, but they were never chosen by Him. Therefore, ironically, we would find it “offensive” as Americans, if someone placed the Code of Hammurabi with the covers of the Bible, or the writings of Joseph Smith, or the prophecies of Muhammed, or the teachings of the Amish. So, why do we think it’s okay to place the political writings of certain men called Americans within the Bible’s covers?

However, just so we are clear, there are plenty of other “bibles” out there as well, promoting just about anything you want to promote, such as philosophical, sociological, political, even erroneous theological stances, all of which are contrary to what the Bible teaches.  The Bible sells, especially when we preach it and rewrite it to fit our sinfulness.


Pictures courtesy of  Pixabay and the following photographers/artists:

"Scroll/Torah" by falco

"PC Bible" by Robert M Price

"Wolf in Sheep Clothing" by Hannah Richter

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